Immersive virtual experiences, games, streaming… what does the king of communications Burger King have in store for us? This time around the brand wanted to woo NBA 2K21 players with the promise of a free meal…
Burger King continues to make more baskets
Traditionally, big brands go to star athletes and get them to promote their brands. They use this reach to support a campaign and spend a lot on print, TV and Internet advertising. Not at Burger King this time.
Whoever pulls off a tough shot in the basketball simulation video game NBA 2K21 on PlayStation 4 and 5 will win a free meal from Burger King. The brand has launched an immersive virtual experience that connects with real-world rewards.
With this final move, the McDonald’s competitor marked practically as many baskets in advance. The reward varies depending on the difficulty of the shot and, of course, its distance. Earning a free sandwich is relatively simple while earning a full meal with fries and soda requires hitting a shot from midfield.
The brand took advantage of the players’ desire to be challenged and rewarded. So Burger King had the opportunity to include all the players who were forced to stay at home due to global pandemic, A brilliant idea, especially for the interactivity of the initiative and the resulting impetus for Generation Z, a marketing target worthy of less and less attention for commercials on television, but also on the web.
A new way to increase engagement
To participate, simply download “The Menu Court” in MyLeague (PS4) or MyNBA (PS5) mode. Then if you make a basket out of sandwiches, fries, nuggets or soda, you can get these items for free until April 4, 2021, by sharing the video on Twitter, tagging BK and NBA2K, and using the hashtag #BKMenuCourt Huh.
Today it is too easy to depend on sport to deliver the message if our target is the smallest. So letting players participate directly in the action can be a more powerful way to increase engagement and deliver a message on social media.
Burger King isn’t its first attempt. The brand has furthered video game integration in recent years by sponsoring football club Stevenage’s in 2019. The marketing campaign was to complete a series of virtual challenges to win free dishes in FIFA 2020.
An example of a successful influencer marketing campaign
The best in-game marketing strategy is to create value in players and makers of video games. So there is no need to highlight your brand. An important part of this campaign is that in order to redeem a prize, players have to share rating moments (with Burger King products in the background) on their Twitter feed. This not only translates into free brand advertising, but also social proof insights.
In this campaign, Burger King encourages gamers to film themselves competing to win their products and then share them with their friends, and the brand’s reputation with notoriously hard-to-reach gamer audiences. Increases popularity.
This campaign is an example of simple and effective sports promotion that is in line with the behavior of the gaming community. Rather than rely on the popularity of a new game (NBA 2K21 was released on September 4, 2020 and gathered 4 million players on November 19, 2020), Burger King took advantage of some of the gamers who already were doing the same. The brand created custom terrains to share with friends and provided them with a fun challenge that enhanced their experience rather than completely changing the gameplay.